Open gym
Your program, our iron.
$79/mo
Month to month. Cancel with 30 days' notice.
- Doors 5 AM–10 PM, seven days
- 14 platforms, 10 racks, every bar we own
- Chalk, belts and bands on the house
- A coach check-in when you join
Strength gym / Fishtown, Philadelphia
Open daily from 5 AM
Pick up heavy things.
A barbell gym in a 1920s hosiery mill under the El. Fourteen platforms, eleven tons of calibrated iron and coaches who write every set down, so next week always has a number to beat.
01 The method
Four movements. Every program.
Everything we coach is one of four things. Get strong at them and the stairs, the groceries, the toddler and the next forty years all get lighter.
01 Lift Squat · deadlift · clean
02 Pull Rows · chin-ups · rack pulls
03 Push Bench · press · jerk
04 Carry Farmer's walks · yoke · sled
Add 2.5 kg a week. Keep showing up. That's the whole secret.
02 Programs
Four waysin the door.
Start in Barbell Basics with an empty bar and a coach at your elbow. Stay for whichever program fits your week. Switch any month, no fee, no awkward conversation.
-
01
Strength
Squat, bench, deadlift and press, coached in small groups. Your coach writes every set on your card, so you always know what to beat.
-
02
Conditioning
Sleds, carries, rowers and kettlebells. Forty-five minutes that make the stairs up to the El feel short. Hard work, never random.
-
03
Open gym
Your program, our iron. Fourteen platforms, ten racks, kilo plates down to half a kilo and a chalk bowl that never runs dry.
-
04
Coaching
One coach, one plan, rewritten every four weeks around your numbers, your calendar and the knee you hurt in 2019.
03 The board · Week of Oct 26
1,312 personal records this year
Personal records chalked on the board this year. More weight, more reps, or the first time ever: they all go up, and they all get a cowbell.
| Member | Lift | Weight | Reps | Lifting here |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Keisha M. | Deadlift | 160kg | × 1 | 14 months |
| Ned W. | Back squat | 140kg | × 3 | 9 months |
| Ruth B. | Deadlift | 102.5kg | × 1 | 3 years |
| Alma L. | Bench press | 62.5kg | × 1 | 6 months |
| Jalen P. | Clean & jerk | 105kg | × 1 | 3 years |
| Sid O. | Strict press | 70kg | × 2 | 2 years |
04 Schedule
This weekon the floor.
Thirty-six classes a week, never more than twelve lifters to a coach. Book in the app up to seven days out. Open gym runs all day around them.
- 5:30AMStrength AMarcus Bell60 min3 of 12 spots left
- 6:30AMConditioningTunde Okafor45 min5 of 12 spots left
- 9:30AMStrength 50+Priya Nair60 min6 of 12 spots left
- 12:15PMLunch LiftDara Rhodes45 min4 of 12 spots left
- 4:00PM1:1 coaching hoursPriya Nair3 hrBy appointment
- 5:30PMStrength ADara Rhodes60 minFull · waitlist
- 6:30PMConditioningTunde Okafor45 min2 of 12 spots left
- 7:30PMBarbell BasicsMarcus Bell60 min7 of 12 spots left
05 Coaches
Coached bypeople who lift.
Four full-time coaches, no rotating cast. They know your name, your numbers and which shoulder complains when it rains.
-
01Head coach · Founder
MarcusBell
Best deadlift272.5kg
Opened Ironhaus in 2016 with six racks and a borrowed forklift. Runs the 5:30 AM crew and will not let you skip a warm-up set.
USAW Level 2 · 21 years under a bar
-
02Powerlifting
DaraRhodes
Best squat182.5kg
Two-time Pennsylvania state champion in the 63 kg class. Teaches the squat like a language: slowly, then all at once.
USPA coach · Saturday technique clinic
-
03Conditioning · Olympic
TundeOkafor
Best clean & jerk150kg
Former Temple sprinter who found the clean and never left. His Strongman Saturday has a waiting list and a cowbell.
USAW Level 1 · CSCS
-
04Coaching · Rehab
PriyaNair
Best bench92.5kg
Doctor of physical therapy. Writes the comeback plans after surgeries, babies and bad backs, then checks in every single week.
DPT · Leads Strength 50+
06 Membership
Pick yourload.
Classes
Coached sessions, written progress.
$159/mo
Month to month. Cancel with 30 days' notice.
- Unlimited Strength and Conditioning classes
- Open gym included
- A training card your coach updates every class
- Test week every 12 weeks, with new numbers
Coached
One coach. One plan. Yours.
$289/mo
Month to month. Cancel with 30 days' notice.
- A program rewritten every four weeks
- Weekly 30-minute 1:1 with your coach
- Video form review within 48 hours
- Everything in Classes, plus towel service
15% off any plan for students, teachers, nurses and first responders.Drop-in $25 · 10-class pack $210, good for four months
07 The floor
9,400 sq ftof iron.
The whole ground floor of a 1920s hosiery mill: rubber, oak, cast-iron columns and the kind of ceiling height that lets you throw a jerk without thinking about it.
Ground floor · 1133 N. Front StEntrance on Front St
- 0114
Competition platforms
8 × 8 ft, oak center, rubber wings. Drop it if you need to; that's what they're for.
- 0210
Power racks
Spotter arms, J-cups at every height and a safety squat bar parked at each one.
- 0311,000kg
Calibrated plates
Kilo plates from 0.5 to 25 kg, accurate to ten grams, so the bar weighs what your card says.
- 0422
Barbells
Power, Olympic, 15 kg, trap, axle and safety squat. Sharp knurl, oiled every Sunday.
- 0530m
Turf lane
Sleds, prowlers and farmer's walks. Booked in ten-minute blocks when it's busy.
- 068
Rowers and air bikes
Four of each, plus a ski erg for anyone who misses being miserable.
- 075
Atlas stones
45 to 140 kg, with a yoke, a log and farmer's handles in the strongman corner.
- 086
Hot showers
Day lockers, hair dryers, towel service on Coached plans and water pressure worth bragging about.
08 Free week
One week.Free.No catch.
Five classes, unlimited open gym and a coach who meets you at the door. No card, no contract and no sales pitch on day seven.
I've never lifted. Is that a problem?
Most of our members hadn't either. Your first class is Barbell Basics: an empty 15 or 20 kg bar, a coach beside you and nobody watching but us.
What should I bring?
Flat shoes, water and something you can squat in. We have chalk, belts, loaner lifting shoes and a towel if you forget.
Where do I park?
Street parking on Front and Girard, free after 6 PM. Girard station on the El is a two-minute walk, and the bike racks are by the door.